5 Days 5 Lunches: Sirloin Kabob

As an Iranian American kid growing up (at least in the early 90’s) there were not a ton of places I looked forward to going to when we went out to eat. This was for a variety of reasons, mostly though because my family typically runs a waiter/waitress through the ringer. Is the garlic fresh? How about more onions? Oh you don’t have that, why don’t you make it? These are the typical questions your standard waiter/waitress will hear from my family when we go out to your standard American/Italian/anything not Iranian restaurant.

So as you can imagine, for an awkward 1st generation Iranian American, going out to eat was not always my idea of a good time. Except for one place. That place was the Iranian Chelow Kabobi Restaurant. What’s a “Chelow Kabobi?” This is the name that most Iranians/Iranian Americans will call a Iranian/Persian restaurant. This is mainly due to the fact that they primarily serve Chelow Kabob, which is one of Iran’s national dishes. It consists of rice and kabob. I’ve discussed my passion for kabob in the past so I won’t deep dive into the specifics.

Back then (1992-1995) there was only one or two Kabobies in the state of Maryland so my whole family, including my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents would ride down together to a D.C. suburb where there was a restaurant. Going there was great, no complaints, and no customizations. Everyone knew what they wanted, plus we could speak Farsi with the wait staff so everything went smooth.

So this brings me to the lunch for this week. I’ve prepared Sirloin Kabobs. This is really a variation on the traditional Kabob-e-Barg (Leaf Kabob (shaped like a leaf), which is traditionally done with Filet Mignon (but I’ve seen it done with Sirloin). Not having any filet in stock for this lunch, I decided to use what I had, which was sirloin steaks. Kabob Barg is great because it’s so tender and juicy, and it’s not chewy at all. So in order to simulate that same feeling with sirloin steak, I cut the meat extra thin (within reason to fit on the skewers).

Puree the onion in a food processor. Then marinate your steaks in the onion puree, cumin, salt, lemon juice, and garlic powder.

Let this marinate overnight if possible, or for at least 3 hours.

*Please note you can also do this whole recipe with Filet Mignon*

Now trim the fat off of the steaks (you can make a separate kabob with these, in Iran this is a delicacy)

Slice your steak into ¼ inch thick strips. Make sure they are not too long though, they should only be about an inch long.

Thread the steaks onto your skewers. Set up your grill as I’ve shown in the past. Make sure your grill is extremely hot. Then set your skewers on your bricks and rotate until they’ve reached a desired doneness for you.